Alaskan Wildlife Refuge to get permanent protection?

Some in the new Democrat run congress in the US want to permanently ban drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, and designate it a protected wilderness area. From Forbes:

Opponents of oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge are going on the offense after playing defense for a quarter of a century. They want the new Democratic Congress to make an oft-challenged drilling ban permanent.

I've read that the US has less than 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. So increased production isn't much of a solution to our reliance on oil. It would take 10 years for the new oil production to really get under way, and even then it wouldn't make a dent in our energy needs.

Bush has pushed aggressively to get the refuge open for drilling, and at one point the Senate even backed drilling. Let's hope this new congress will challenge him on it.